CD Reviews

Stevie steps up the groove in 1968

semaj emorej | dallas, texas United States | 11/26/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"stevie wonder's 1967 album "i was made to love her"was lackluster because it only contained 4 originals and a large platter of remakes.that was the way of the era 4 motown albums.however,in 1968,stevie steps up the groove considerably with this smash album entitled "for once in my life" an album that runs like an hit factory by itself.wonder remade the tune 'for once in my life' and made it all his own into an upbeat nice number.and like the "i was made to love her" album before it,it has remakes but only a handfull of them such as 'sunny'and billie holiday's 'god bless the child'/but the main treasures of this album are the wonder originals featuring funky numbers such as 'shoo-be-doo-be-doo-da-day'(it's flipside of the original 45 single contains the very soulful gospel influenced number entitled 'why don't you lead me to love'which was co-written with the beautiful sylvia moy,lula hardaway?,and henry cosby.it is very strange for motown not to include this original number in the album with the other wonder originals of which they instead chose 'god bless the child'and 'sunny'in it's place)

'you met your match'-a funky biting tale about a cheating lover and also getting even in return in the game of love.other funky numbers include 'i wanna make her love me'/'i'm more than happy(i'm satisfied)'/ the dark mysterious 'i don't know why'and the very fast paced 'the house on the hill'/and of course there are the relaxed numbers(even though they are slightly upbeat)featuring the cool 'i'd be a fool right now'which has nice strings,musical bells and nice background vocalists.but what makes this song so different from all the other tracks on this album is how stevie transformed his voice to a sparkling echo effect in the studio.'do i love her'is the last of the relaxed originals is a love tale about wanting 2 regain the beautiful love of mrs.jones daughter."for once in my life"is the first album that wonder uses the clavinet to expand and enhance his musical sound from the late 1960s into the 1970s.i would call stevie's "for once in my life" album the original 'clavinet album' that started it all 4 him that laid the foundation 4 his classic 70s albums.yes indeed 1968 was a ground breaking year 4 stevie wonder..."

No Match For Stevie

Thomas Magnum | NJ, USA | 02/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For Once In My Life is a very good Stevie Wonder from 1968. As was the theme for Motown albums from the era, it contains a couple of hit singles, covers of non-Motown songs and covers of Motown songs. "For Once In My Life" shows off Mr. Wonder's beautiful voice. "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" is fiery number that has a southern soul style and "You Met Your Match" is in the same vein. Some other good songs include "I Don't Know Why", "God Bless The Children" & "Do I Love Her""

An Early Wonder Masterpiece!

Andre' S Grindle | Bangor,ME. | 07/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"On 'For Once In My Life' Stevie utterly reinvents the schlockly showtune-ish sound of the original and blows it out the window on the title cut,following that with the classics "Shoo-Be-Do-Be-Do-Da Day" and "You Met Your Match"-the greatest 1,2,3 punch on a Motown album at this point!And along with the classic "I Don't Know Why I Love You" mark the first uses of clavinet in his music!And it only gets better with the wonderful "I'd Be A Fool Right Now" and the soulful raver "The House On The Hill".And guess what?NO FILLER!Stevie Wonder succeeds at producing an album with all quality material within the Motown style.He'd redifine it later but his own self-reliant artistic muse first shows up here!"